Navigation Mesh

The process of creating a navigation mesh from the level geometry is called NavMesh Baking. The process collects the Render Meshes and Terrains of all game objects which are marked as Navigation Static, and then processes them to create a navigation mesh that approximates the walkable surfaces of the level. Please refer to Unity Navigation documentation on navigation.

In Unity, navigation mesh generation is handled from the _ Navigation _ window (Menu: Window > Navigation).

Building a navigation mesh for your scene can be done in 4 quick steps. Please refer to the Unity Navigation Mesh documentation for details.

The Babylon Navigation Mesh extension is a path finder for AI agents. It uses the A Star and Funnel algorithms to calculate a path on the exported baked navigation mesh and is packaged as a toolkit plugin.

Managed Runtime Support

The toolkit scene manager provides easy to use helper functions for client side navigation:

declare module BABYLON {
        class SceneManager {

            /** Gets the native babylon mesh navigation tool */
            getNavigationTool(): Navigation;

            /** Gets the current navigation zone */
            getNavigationZone(): string;

            /** Finds a navigation path and returns a array of navigation positions */
            findNavigationPath(origin: BABYLON.Vector3, destination: BABYLON.Vector3): BABYLON.Vector3[];

            /** Gets true if the scene has a navigation mesh */
            hasNavigationMesh(): boolean;

            /** Returns the current scene's navigation mesh */
            getNavigationMesh(): BABYLON.AbstractMesh;

            /** Builds the current scene's navigation nodes */
            buildNavigationMesh(mesh: BABYLON.AbstractMesh): any;

            /** Returns a picked navigation point */
            getNavigationPoint(position: BABYLON.Vector3, raise?: number, length?: number): BABYLON.Vector3;

            /** Moves the specified navigation again along a path of positions */
            moveNavigationAgent(agent: BABYLON.AbstractMesh, path: BABYLON.Vector3[], speed?: number, loop?: boolean, callback?: () => void): void;

            /** Returns an array of navigation agents */
            getNavigationAgents(): BABYLON.Mesh[];

            /** Returns the specfied navigation agent info */
            getNavigationAgentInfo(agent: BABYLON.AbstractMesh): BABYLON.NavigationAgent;

            /** Returns the current scene's navigation area table */
            getNavigationAreaTable(): BABYLON.INavigationArea[];

            /** Returns the current scene's navigation area indexes */
            getNavigationAreaIndexes(): number[];

            /** Returns the current scene's navigation area names */
            getNavigationAreaName(index: number): string;

            /** Returns the current scene's navigation area cost */
            getNavigationAreaCost(index: number): number;
        }
    }

Example Navigation Mesh script component:

module PROJECT {
        export class NavMeshComponent extends BABYLON.MeshComponent {
            private navmesh:BABYLON.AbstractMesh = null;
            public constructor(owner: BABYLON.AbstractMesh, scene: BABYLON.Scene, tick: boolean = true, propertyBag: any = {}) {
                super(owner, scene, tick, propertyBag);
            }
            protected start() :void {
                this.navmesh = this.manager.getNavigationMesh();
                if (this.navmesh) {
                    var minimoi = BABYLON.Mesh.CreateBox("MiniMoi", 0.5, this.scene);
                    minimoi.material = new BABYLON.StandardMaterial("MoiMaterial", this.scene);
                    (<BABYLON.StandardMaterial>minimoi.material).diffuseColor = new BABYLON.Color3(1., 0., 0);
                    minimoi.position = new BABYLON.Vector3(0, 0.25, 0);

                    // Setup point and click demo navigation
                    var canvas = document.getElementById("cvs");
                    canvas.addEventListener('click', (evt)=> {
                        var pickingInfo = this.scene.pick(this.scene.pointerX, this.scene.pointerY, (mesh) => { return (mesh === this.navmesh); });
                        if (pickingInfo.hit) {
                            var navpoint = pickingInfo.pickedPoint;
                            var path = this.manager.findNavigationPath(minimoi.position, navpoint);
                            if (path != null) {
                                this.manager.moveNavigationAgent(minimoi, path, 5.0);
                            }
                        }
                    });
                }
            }
        }
    }